Top Tips

Here’s where we’ll give you our top tips on surviving the selection process!
These may all sound simple and obvious, but you would be surprised what basic mistakes are sometimes made during our selection process.

We use assessment centres because it gives us the opportunity to see you in a number of situations. These are not designed to catch you out. If you attend an assessment centre think about the following:

Your verbal and non-verbal communications.

If you perform badly in one exercise, don't let it affect your overall performance.

Listen to instructions and ask questions if you are unsure.

Try to ignore the presence of the assessors who will be observing you during the exercises.

Don't make assumptions about what we are looking for in each exercise.

Be yourself!

FAQs

For most of our graduate roles, we will consider applications from people with any degree background. What we ask though is that you can demonstrate the core competencies that we look for, including a passion for the area you are applying to.

If you have a job offer from IBM and you subsequently obtain a 2:2, the situation will be judged on a case by case basis (however this has rarely happened).
If you have a 2:2 and you're yet to apply, we recommend you look at the entry level routes into IBM as you don’t meet the minimum entry requirements for our Graduate Scheme.

No, you can only apply for one job with us at any one time. If during our selection process we feel your skills would be better suited to a different role or you would like to change your application to an alternative role, we will discuss this with you at the time.

You will be based in our Southbank office in London, however you will often be expected to work away from London on a client site. When you are based away from home, IBM will provide alternative accommodation arrangements for you eg. a hotel and will provide travel and subsistence expenses.

On average you can expect the whole selection process to take between 8–10 weeks. This is from when you submit your application to potentially being made a job offer. The timings do depend on when we have selection days planned and it also assumes that there will be no technical issues with your application form or online aptitude test. Therefore, please note that in some cases it may take longer than the anticipated 8-10 weeks.

If your initial application is successful, we will invite you to take an online computer aptitude test (CAT) – the IBM IPAT test. The test itself is divided into three sections, however, you will only be asked to complete two of the three sections. You can choose to take these in either one or two sittings. You will have seven days to complete the two sections before your password expires. The test can be adjusted for anyone that needs a reasonable adjustment and you will be asked to self select whether you need this when you log on for the first time. When you log in to take the test for the first time, there are sample questions for each part of the test, so take time understanding exactly what is required for each section. This part of the test isn't timed so you can take as long as you need.

It depends on which role you have applied to. You can normally expect to take part in group activities and complete written tests. You will be given a presentation about the opportunities and you may also have the opportunity to chat to some recent graduate hires.

It depends on which role you have applied to. However, most contain a number of group exercises - some task solving and some discussion based. You will also take part in some individual exercises - either in the form of a presentation or a written exercise. You can also expect to have at least one interview.

If you are unsuccessful at any stage of the process then you can reapply 12 months after your initial application to us. If during the selection process we feel that you would be better suited to another business area, then we will offer this to you as an option.